Sugita Koto Wa, Sugita Koto Da
by Hitokiri Gentatsu
Summary: {Chapter One 10/5} Eleven years ago one of Kenshin’s foes placed a curse on the infamous Battousai. Now Aoshi, Misao and Sano search for identity of the man.
1. Default Chapter

Sugita Koto Wa, Sugita Koto Da

(The Past is the Past)

By: Hitokiri Gentatsu

Author's Note: I have to be crazy to attempt to work on several fics at once, huh. Anyway this is a Supernatural/Mystery story. Hope you will enjoy it. Please feel free to review and offer some advice if you think it is needed. Arigatou.

Summary: Eleven years ago one of Kenshin's foes placed a curse on the infamous Battousai and now the time for revenge from beyond the grave has arrived. Can Kenshin and his friends find their way out of the trap that has been set or will they lose everything they have ever held dear? 

Prologue

Kyoto, 1868~Battle of Tobu Fushimi

A figure, cloaked in darkness, stood on a hill overlooking the battlefield below. His eyes were narrow, all of his concentration bent toward one of the figures below him. His concentration was so intent that the observer was surprised that the man below didn't notice he was being watched. The observer raised an eyebrow at the possibility that the red-haired swordsman was unaware of his scrutiny, then he dismissed the notion as an impossibility. Battousai surely knew he was being watched, although he may not know who watched him. It mattered very little to the observer and he turned his eyes back toward the swordsman below.

The field below him was soaked with blood and the air around it hung heavy with cannon smoke but neither of these things were of interest to the observer, who was only interested in one person on that field or, to be more specific, the man was only interested in the death of one person. He watched as Battousai cut down two opponents in less time then it took to breathe even one breath. The young swordsman looked around him for more opponents and, for a moment, smoke obscured the observer's sight of the swordsman, but he was easily spotted and not difficult for the observer to find, even at this distance. Battousai's flashing katana and blood red hair were like a beacon among the grayness of the field on which he fought.

"Battousai..." the observer muttered, the word dripping with venom and rage as he watched the swordsman take down five more enemies before disappearing in the smoke again. 

After a few moments, Battousai appeared again, seemingly from out of nowhere. This time he was completely surrounded and cut off from the other Ishinshishi by the Shinsengumi, lead by Saito Hajime. The dark observer smiled in satisfaction, believing this to be the end of the notorious hitokiri. Smoke and haze obscured his sight again but that didn't matter. Battousai was surely just moments away from death and that thought filled him with an almost obscene joy.

"Soon....soon...." he thought as he rubbed his thin hands together.

He could hear the sound of metal striking metal and the moans of the dying as they fell. The smoke cleared for a moment and he saw Battousai in life or death combat with Saito. The smoke covered them again, just as the few remaining members of the Shinsengumi first and second squads charged Battousai from all directions.

Quite suddenly, the battlefield grew still, seeming to be silently waiting for the outcome of the battle between the two strongest among both sides. A few moments later a ragged cheer rose up from the surviving Ishin. The observer grimaced at the Shogunate's loss but believed that the cost was well worth the price if the Battousai was killed as well. Battousai had to die, had to be made to suffer for all he had done and for all the lives he'd destroyed. 

The smoke cleared from the combatants at last and the observer waited with breathless anticipation. The haze lifted completely and a cry of rage erupted from the observer, though none would or could hear it.

"Not possible...this isn't possible!" The man looked down at the field again.

Battousai stood amidst the bodies of those he had just slain, his unsheathed katana still dripping with their blood for a moment before he flicked that blood from it and resheathed it. The observer watched as Battousai seemed to regard the blade for a moment before plunging it into the ground in front of him. The sunset stained everything crimson, as Battousai turned his back on the battlefield and walked away, never once looking back.

This action surprised and confused the observer, who had spent the entire war watching Battousai. He watched the hitokiri for any sign of trickery but even when some of his own comrades called to him, asking him for aid in fighting one of the few remaining pockets of resistance, he waved them off. All to soon he vanished from the observer's sight, leaving the dark, cloaked figure trembling with rage. He stood there for several minutes, his rage smoldering and building inside him, then an evil smile lighted his features.

"No, this will be an even sweeter revenge." He wrapped his cloak around him and appeared just out of sight of the retreating figure of Battousai. He stretched out a thin hand toward the former hitokiri. "You shall suffer for your crimes, Battousai. You will know no peace waking or sleeping and the hitokiri's madness shall ever be within you. Know that you will pay for every life you have taken here."

The observer disappeared then, leaving no trace of his existence and he waited for the day he would exact his revenge on the man called Himura Kenshin.

*

Tokyo, Meiji Year 12~March 1879

Blood was everywhere. I could smell it heavy in the air around me. Its smell held me captive and still had the power to stir the hitokiri with me into wakefulness, even after 11 years of peace. I was frozen to the spot, unable to move as its metallic odor flooded my senses once again, overpowering in its intensity. I tried to open my eyes, seeking to end the nightmares that had plagued me since I renounced the hitokiri's sword, but once again they refused to open. I was trapped, held prisoner by my dark and bloody past, a past that haunts every moment I live. 

I could feel blood falling all around me, staining my hands and running down my face into my eyes. My clothing was heavy with its sticky dampness and my feet were leaving a bloody trail behind me. Then the screaming began again. I tried to cover my ears, to block out the cries of anguish that surround me but my hands again remained limp at my side and I am forced to hear the cries of those I have killed.

"Please spare my life..."

"I have done nothing..."

"Don't kill me...I don't want to die..."

"Mercy...please have mercy..."

"Have you no heart, demon...have you no pity..."

Then a cold voice cuts through the other ones, "I have come to bring you Tenchuu!"

I shivered at the cold voice that echoed back at me from the past and the screams rose into a deafening caliophy of sound and more blood flowed from my sword, pooling at my feet and staining my gray hakama crimson. The blood flowed around me, like some demented parody of a river, attempting to pull me under. I felt myself drowning in it, unable to hold out against the push of its current on my mind and actions. The stench of death became unbearable and I found myself retching onto the ground as bile rose to the back of my throat, cutting off my ability to speak or even scream.

Then I jerked awake, my breathing rapid and a cold sweat filming my brow. I lifted a hand to wipe the cold dampness from my face while the other hand automatically sought the smooth wooden saya of my sakabatou. I discovered that my hands would not move. My eyes snapped open and encountered nothing but darkness. My eyes widened for a moment to find it was not really darkness so much as an inky grayness that surrounded me. I tried again to move my arms and found them to be chained to the wall behind me.

Then I remembered-remembered everything that had happened in the last few days with a sudden clarity that made my nightmares pale by comparison. I knew what this place was and why I was here. Tears fell from my eyes, stinging them and my already chapped cheeks as they trailed down them. Grief such as I had never known before moved through me, paralyzing me in much the same way the smell of blood in my dream had. Only this was no dream that I would eventually wake from. This was a nightmare, a living nightmare worse than any dream.

I longed to cry out, to give vent to the grief and pain I was in but the time for that was long past. If I was to survive this trap, my grief must remain silent and I must push it aside in order to better concentrate on the task at hand. I would be of no help to the others if I died here. I had to keep hold of my will to live. It was the only thing I had left in a world gone suddenly mad.

I strained my eyes to see if anything about the cell had changed but nothing had. I hung limply in my chains, a feeling of hopelessness assailing me once more. I blinked back tears from my eyes but they continued to fall despite my efforts.

"I...I....killed..." 

The whispered words I spoke echoed in my head and I clamped down in the cry that was struggling to free itself from my throat as guilt and grief washed over me in a cold wave. I had broken my oath, that vow I had once made to Tomoe. 

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, shaking my head from side to side in a vain attempt to escape the memories of the last few days but they would not let me be. Everything that happened flashed before me in a brief moment. The smiling faces of my friends turned into the angry faces of the mob that hunted me down and then accused me of a crime so cruel and bloody that I could hardly believe it was my hand that caused it.

"My friends...forgive me..." I closed my eyes against the memory of their blood-covered bodies, trying to force the memory from my mind but it remained.

They were dead because of me. New tears sprang into my eyes, as I heard the cell door open and a stern voice say 'You have five minutes with the prisoner, no more."

That's all I was now, a prisoner, a common criminal. I felt my heart catch in my throat. I was once a man who had saved Japan from the chaos Shishio Makoto planned to create but now I had lost everything, including my name and my honor. All I had left was my life and if there was any way to save it, I must try to do so. I had promised myself long ago to live for those who had died and I could no more let go of promise then I could forget my past.

Two sets of footsteps came toward me and I looked up at the two who had come all this way at my request. I winced away from the light they held, my eyes having lost all tolerance for bright light.

"Himura?" Misao's normally bright voice was subdued as she moved closer to me, questions in her eyes.

I tried to pull myself together, desperately needing their help to extract myself from this trap some enemy of mine had set. Aoshi set the lantern on the floor and came closer, is face an expressionless mask. 

"You set for us, Battousai...?" His voice carried no hint of emotion.

I nodded slowly, not wanting the room to start spinning suddenly as it had in the past. I knew my body was fevered and that some of my wounds had become infected, but nothing was or would be done about that. Megumi had tried to get the police to allow her to treat me but I was just a prisoner now...a murderer awaiting execution and had no need for a doctor's care. Whether I lived or died because of the infection was a matter that the next few days would tell. What was important now was to find out which of my enemies was responsible for my downfall.

"Aoshi....Miss Misao....I called you here because I need your help."

Aoshi nodded and Misao's eyes shimmered with tears.

"We will do what we can, Battousai." Aoshi's voice was soft, giving away nothing. "What is it you require?"

Misao's eyes locked with mine for a moment and words passed between us without benefit of our voices.

"I need you to find out who is behind this...who it was that orchestrated this trap I have fallen into. Bring him or them back here quickly."

"We'll find them for you, Himura." Misao's voice was full of determination.

I tried to smile. "You need to find them as quickly as possible."

Aoshi nodded in understanding, clearly not wanting to alarm Misao with thoughts of what would happen to me if they could not find the one(s) responsible for this tragedy.

"Your time's up, Shinomori," said a cold voice from beyond the cell door.

"Saito Hajime." Aoshi hissed the name as Misao turned to glare at the officer.

Misao wrapped her arms around me and I could feel her tears staining my gi. 

"Don't worry, Himura. We will find whoever did this to you." She looked up at me, determination in her eyes. "I won't let you die. Not here. Not like this."

She turned from me and walked with Aoshi toward the door that had just swung open. She turned to look at me one last time and flashed me grin and a victory sign before disappearing through the door.

"I hope for your sake that they are able to find something of use, Battousai." Saito said as he lit a cigarette. "Now to continue our...conversation."

I turned my eyes on him and prayed that the others would somehow find something of use, something more tangible then the vague answers I would be able to give Saito. What I was about to tell him would not satisfy the former Shinsengumi captain, of that I was certain. All I could do was hope he would give my friends time to gather the needed evidence for, if he would not, I knew my life was indeed forfeit.


	2. Chapter One

Sugita Koto Wa, Sugita Koto Da  
  
By Hitokiri Gentatsu  
  
A/N: Well here is the first chapter of this rather strange story. Arigatou to all who have reviewed thus fair. I hope this chapter will being to slowly answer your questions.  
  
Lexa: This chapter is for you. You know I can't really tell you what happens next. You'll just simply have to read it for yourself.  
  
Fitz: Thanks for the review. I've been reading your story 'Life's a Dance' and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good AU story. Yes, I left several things unexplain but they will become clearer as time passes I hope. As you can see I have updated my other stories again as well, especially the one you were asking about. So go check then out.  
  
Colleen: Good to hear from you too. I liked the Battle of Tobu/Fushimi part too. I really want to write something just about that one but, thus far I have not had any ideas pop into my head. Oh, well.  
  
Well, now on to the story, which is what you are all here for, ne? Oh, and if things look a little strange or there are some errors I have gotten a brand new computer and I'm working with a different word processing program.  
  
  
Chapter One:  
  
"Fah!" Saito said, as he put the cigarette out by smashing it into the wall quite close to my head. "You lie. Surely you don't expect me to believe that you have no memory of what happened."  
  
He ground his teeth in fury and grabbed me by the front of my gi so that he could glare at me, eye to eye. When he got no response from me other than a nod, he threw me against the wall of the cell so forcefully that I saw stars for a moment. Any other time I would have said 'Oro' but this was not the situation to be playing the seemingly foolish rurouni. Only by being serious could I even hope to convince Saito that my unbelieveable story was true.  
  
"What I speak is the truth," I said calmly. "What other explaination could there be. I have taken an oath never to kill again and even you know how important it is to me. Why would I suddenly...suddenly..."  
  
He looked up at me then and saw the tears in my eyes that were threatening to spill. I hung my head.  
  
"Why would I...kill again," I whispered and then looked at him again. "I swore to never take another life once the war ended and I have kept to that oath."  
  
Saito turned his back to me and shrugged. "Until now. Perhaps you became enraged..."  
  
"I would never hurt her or the others!" I stated flatly, a glimmer of anger in my eyes.  
  
"Perhaps but what of Battousai?"  
  
"Not even he would hurt them. They were of no threat to him," I said firmly. "No matter what his past crimes. he would never endanger others. You know this."  
  
"But if he was enraged enough..."  
  
I knew where Saito was going with his train of thought. There had been two times that Battousai had been so enraged, angered beyond reason and ready to kill. One had been when I was fighting Ji'ne, the other when I faced Saito himself. Both times within seconds of killing them but fate and my sakabatou intervened and I had not.  
  
"I don't deny that if he were enraged enough Battousai would do so, but still he would...we would never..."  
  
Saito regarded me with one narrow amber eye from over his shoulder. "Can you think of no one who would wish to frame you, Battousai?"  
  
I thought for a long time but no one came to mind. All of my enemies were supposedly gone now or, at least I believed them to be.  
  
"No, I can't think of anyone."  
  
Saito turned to smirk at me, his narrow eyes glowing for a brief moment. "Are you positive, Battousai?"  
  
I knew he was trying to bait me as he had of old but I did not take it. It was plain he wanted me to accuse him of this attack but I knew it could not be him.  
  
I have Saito a glare and said firmly, "No, not anyone I can think of."  
  
He pulled another cigarette from his pocket and struck a match across the stone wall to light it. He took a few puffs on it, watching me closely.  
  
"And yet you were found holding the bloody katana, the very weapon used on your friends. Can you explain that?" He said it in a tone that clearly said that I'd better find an explaination and quick.  
  
I had a reason but I doubted very seriously that Saito would believe me. I looked at him silently and he tapped his foot with impatience. I could not bring myself to tell him any more then I already had. I couldn't make myself repea the words and thoughts that went through my mind in the moment that blood began to flow. I wasn't even sure what I had felt and heard was even real and not some figment of my imagination. Because of this I could not tell him the truth of the matter so I tried to pick a more reasonable excuse and prayed that Aoshi and Misao found a more tangible reason for all this then a ghostly form I had thought I saw that day. I prayed they would find a living person behind this because if they did not then that left only one explaination.  
  
*  
  
"Misao...Misao!" Aoshi shouted after the young Oniwaban leader.  
  
Mackimachi Misao's head was bowed, her eyes hidden by a fall of dark hair. Her hands were balled into fists and she seemed to be trembling with fury. Aoshi finally managed to catch up to furious ninja and he put a hand on her shoulder. She turned intense and angry blue eyes too him.  
  
"He didn't do it, Aoshi-sama!" she said so fiercely that Aoshi took a step back. "Himura would never do such a thing! Most of all he would never hurt THEM!"  
  
She stabbed a finger in the direction of the clinic were Kaoru and Yahiko were laying unconscious of wounds they sustained while trying to fight off an enraged Battousai. Two tears escaped her eyes and she dropped her pose as the leader of the Oniwabanshu though her voice remained fierce in tone.  
  
"Himura wouldn't break his vow, Aoshi-sama. He just wouldn't." She looked up at him, pleading with him to agree with her.  
  
"The fact remains that people have placed him at the scene of the attacks and Megumi-san said that both Yahiko-kun and Kaoru-san were muttering about Battousai when they were brought in." He wished he could made her feel better by lying but he could not. Facts were, after all, facts.  
  
"He. Would. Never. Do. That!" she shouted, looking fiercely at him.  
  
"I agree with you, Weasle-Girl."  
  
"I'm not a 'Weasle-Girl!" Kunai appeared in Misao's hands and she spun around to see a serious faced Sanosuke.  
  
The kunai disappeared and she looked up at him. Sano looked between the two ninja and shoved his hands in his pockets, the right one still swathed in bandages. He sauntered off down the street and the two ninja followed him. Silence reigned over the three as they made their way to the Akabeko. Before they were even half way there, Sano turned to the other two, his serious expression becoming more so.  
  
"I don't think Kenshin murdered those other people or that he hurt Yahiko and Jou-chan," he said quietly. "There's something goin on here. Something strange."  
  
"But he was..." Aoshi began.  
  
"I don't care what anyone says. He didn't do it!" Sanosuke's voice was full of anger that anyone, most especially one of Kenshin's 'friends' would think he would committ the crime.  
  
"I'm not say he did do it." Aoshi's voice was quiet. "I'm only saying everyone now believes Battousai killed those men in the alley, and on the strength of that belief people have been known to do things..."  
  
Misao's eyes grew wide and Sano's mouth fell open.  
  
"Just what are you saying, Shinomori?" Sano's hands clenched into fists and Misao put a restraining hand on his shoulder.  
  
"So you're saying we need to find whoever is responsible for this and fast or Himura will...." She dared not finish the sentence.  
  
Aoshi nodded and Sano cursed softly under his breath. They continued toward the Akabeko in silence, each one struggling to understand what had happened a few day previous.  
  
The Akabeko was unusually busy for the late afternoon. Sano and the others could hear voices coming from the resturant even before reaching it themselves. As they entered the room, all coversation haulted as the customers stared openly at the group. Aoshi ignored both the sudden silence and the glares of the people as he passed, Misao trailing after him, her hand balled into fists once more. Sanosuke trudged after them, his hands jammed into his pockets and he eyes daring anyone to mess with him.  
  
He'd almost made it to the table Aoshi and Misao now sat when he heard a whispered voice say, "How dare they come in here. They're friends with that murdering Battousai."  
  
Sano's angry brown eyes swept the room in search of the whisperer and found a group of men huddled over their sake, glaring at him with hatred. One man was the grey-haired owner of shop that Kenshin had saved from exicution at the hands of the police swordsmen. Another was a man who had almost been robbed on the road just outside of Tokyo. In fact most of the men at that table had been saved by Kenshin's sword at one time or another during the last two years.  
  
He stalked over to the table amd slammed his hands down on it, rattling their jar of sake and the cups. "Yes, we're his friends. You want to make something of it?"  
  
The men's faces paled considerably and they shook their heads rapidly. Sano smiled at them with no hint of humor in his eyes.  
  
"Good." He stalked off again, a little disappointed that he could take out his anger in fighting those men but relieved that there would be no damaged tables for Tae to add to his ever growing tab.   
  
He sat down at the table with Aoshi and Misao just as Tae hurried over to serve them. Sano noticed that the three other waitresses were going out of their way to avoid serving the small group.  
  
"I'm sorry, Sanosuke but none of the others will have anything to do with you. They seem to think that something evil will rub off on them" She looked at them unhappily.  
  
"It's okay, Tae," said Sano with a genuine smile.  
  
She went to get their orders herself and brought the food to them quickly. When they had begun to eat, she sat next to them.  
  
"How is he?" she asked quietly, the noise level in the room having returned to normal.  
  
"As well as can be expected, given the circumstances," Aoshi said quietly, his eyes scanning the crowded room.  
  
"He's worried." Misao said. "And his wounds are bad."  
  
Tae frowned. "And the others."  
  
"Megumi has returned from Aizu to tend to them. She's says they'll be fine, given time." Sano shook his head, remembering how he had found them.  
  
Tae tried to smile, to put on a brave face but there were tears in her eyes.  
  
"There is talk..." she said even more quietly. "Talk that they will execute Kenshin-san."  
  
The four of them sat in silence for a moment before Aoshi spoke again.  
  
"They will if we cannotfind out who is responsible for this and bring them back here."  
  
Tae's breath caught in her throat and she put a hand to her mouth. "But he is innocent," she said with convinction that was shared by the others.  
  
"We will find who did this," Sano told her, waving a dismissing hand at the other customers. "And when we do, they will know they are wrong about him."  
  
Tae rose to help serve other customers but before she leftshe whispered a word of warning. "Be careful. The people are angry and everyone is on edge."  
  
Sano nodded in understanding, uncharacteristically silent and she left. Aoshi quietly sipped his tea, watching the people in the room carefully, while Misao picked at her food. Sano ate with relish, his appitite fuel by his anger that the fates had seen fit to disrupt Kenshin's hard won peace.  
  
An hour later they were backon the street talking about their plans.   
  
"We will return to Kyoto and see what our informants can find out." Misao said as Aoshi nodded in agreement.  
  
"I will use other means to try and discover the identity of this person." Aoshi stated calmly.  
  
Sano agreed with their thoughts completely. If it was an enemy from Kenshin's past then the place to start looking was Kyoto. But Sano couldn't shake the feeling that it was someone closer to home.  
  
"I'll take care of things on this end. There are a few people I would like to talk to."  
  
Aoshi seemed surprised by the offer but agreed, knowing that Sano's connection to the Tokyo underground might turn up some interesting information.  
  
"I'll talk to Katsu too. Maybe he's heard something."  
  
The two ninja agree and decided to return immediately to Kyoto to being their investigation. Sanosuke took them to the station and, as he watched their train depart, his thoughts turned to his own. He knew he would be able to get information if it was there to be found but he was also certain he would need some help. As much as he hated to admit it, he was going to need the Wolf of Mibu's help on this one.  
  
"I just hope he's willing to ignore the fact that I'm not even supposed to be in Japan.  
  
  
*  
  
"The stage is set," thought the observer, as he watched over his target. "The final act in the life of Battousai is about to begin. When he is dead, he will be mine.  
  
The observer passed a transparent hand over the cross scar on Kenshin's cheek, causing it to begin to bleed from both slashes. The blood made a dark path down Kenshin's cheek and began to drip steadly from his chin to pool on the floor at his feet.  
  
"When you die, Battousai my slain comrades and I will exact our revenge on your soul, for all eternity." The observer passed through the door of the cell, leaving Kenshin to toss in fever dreams, his scar bleeding as it had not in twelve long years. 


End file.
